Blog

Welcome to the Twin team

Posted by Richard Anstead on 1 June 2016

It has only been a month since I joined the team at Twin and Twin Trading but I am delighted to say that I during that time I have been inspired by the work of the team here and overseas and have had a truly warm welcome.

It has taken me a while to meet up with many of the team due to travel commitments and it will be sometime before I meet others working for Twin in origin countries around the world.

There were no prizes for Twin this year but still a great chance for our team to showcase their innovative work at the Re:Co Symposium. Again Twin has past form here. In previous years Katherine Nolte has presented there with Bukonzo Joint Cooperative Union and this time Xavier Hamon, Sustainable Agriculture Project Manager took the platform. Xavier talked about conducting 'unusual business’ - how Twin and a group of partners including M&S, Taylors of Harrogate and Matthew Algies can come together to work on climate change adaptation in innovative and pre-competitive ways to secure specialty coffee from unique origins. Many of the areas he spoke about were picked up throughout Re:Co and SCAA.

Away from Atlanta Twin has continued to work with key producer partners. We have worked intensively in Uganda over the last month and will continue to do so partnering a long-term partner there as the struggle to cope with the impacts of severe flooding and limited infrastructure to stand up to these pressures, right at the height of the harvest season. This is very real impact of climate change hitting those who are least equipped to deal with it, organisations that need strengthening in order to withstand these and other pressures.

In my own work, I have been engaging with the team here and with our Regional Manager from Kigali, Emmanuel Harelimana who was visiting London. It has been great to learn about Twin’s work in coffee, cocoa and nuts and to hear how our work with partners such as Divine Chocolate, Liberation Nuts, ACRE and others is helping to deliver a form of trade where everyone benefits and where small farmers have the power to shape their own business and community development.

I am very much looking forward to continuing this work with the Twin team.